fortification
noun
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In the Middle Ages, many European cities were entirely enclosed by sturdy walls, with walkways along the top and towers at intervals, designed to make an invasion impossible. A water-filled ditch, or moat, might run alongside the wall for added defense. Such defenses turned the entire city into a fort, or fortress. Over the centuries, fortifications changed steadily with the development of new weaponry. In World War II, the German fortification of the French coast included antitank barriers, bunkers, minefields, and underwater obstacles, but it wasn't enough to turn back the immense force of the Allied invasion on D-day.
Synonyms
Examples of fortification in a Sentence
Aspen Pflughoeft, Miami Herald, 30 Apr. 2024
The defensive lines only include larger fortifications, such as long anti-tank ditches, and do not include smaller defenses like infantry trenches.
—Josh Holder, New York Times, 22 Apr. 2024
Iron fortification is one of the best qualities of commercial cereals for babies.
—Jennifer D'angelo Friedman, Parents, 1 Apr. 2024
The Tyger’s survivors created Garden Key’s first fortifications—over a century before the construction of Fort Jefferson.
—Sonja Anderson, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 Mar. 2024
Increasingly unafraid of Ukrainian howitzer batteries, Russian batteries have been massing, out in the open, for devastating salvos that level Ukrainian fortifications.
—David Axe, Forbes, 1 Mar. 2024
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ordered the construction of an extensive network of fortifications aimed at holding back Russian forces, signaling a switch to the defensive posture after a monthslong Ukrainian counteroffensive yielded only small gains.
—Matthew Luxmoore, WSJ, 1 Dec. 2023
As part of the Kraków Fortress network, different sections of the fortification were built over time and through various expansion projects, archaeologists said.
—Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 15 Apr. 2024
Three defense lines are being built, even where there are no hostilities, Zelenskyy said last weekend while visiting new fortifications in the northern Chernihiv region, bordering Belarus.
—Daryna Mayer, NBC News, 12 Apr. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'fortification.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“Fortification.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fortification. Accessed 3 May. 2024.
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fortification
noun
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